How to freeze dogwood in the refrigerator for the winter at home and is it possible
Cornel is one of the healthiest berries. It contains a lot of vitamins, pectins, organic acids, essential oils, tannins and phytoncides, and even more vitamin C than black currant. If you freeze fresh dogwood for the winter, this will avoid vitamin deficiency, flu and colds, because it strengthens the immune system. It is enough to follow the rules of preparation - and there will always be a tasty and healthy delicacy at hand.
Is it possible to freeze dogwood for the winter
Freezing is the best way to store berries for a long time. It allows you to preserve the main medicinal properties, as well as almost all useful components. At the same time, taste is not only preserved over time, but even improved.
In winter, frozen dogwood is perfect for making various compotes, jelly, fruit drinks, jams and preserves. It is also often used as a condiment for meat and fish dishes. It is convenient to add a frozen mixture of grated berries with sugar to tea, porridge and just eat it as a sweet vitamin dessert.
Product selection and preparation
Freezing requires only ripe berries - they become bright red, taste sweet and sour, slightly tart and astringent. The collection is carried out in the fall, a film is spread under the bush and it is easily shaken - the ripe dogwood falls freely. If unripe berries were purchased, spread them out in a thin layer and wait a few days. Then you need to immediately start preparing for freezing:
- Go through the berries, remove the crumpled and wormy ones, as well as sticks, leaves and other debris.
- Place in a colander and rinse thoroughly with running water.
- Spread out on a paper towel and dry for 15 minutes.
Freezer preparation
Before freezing, you must also prepare the chamber. You should free up space in it, if necessary - wash. If the refrigerator has a pre-freeze function, you should turn it on a day before placing the berries. After another 24 hours, you need to turn it off and activate the storage mode. It is recommended to set the temperature in the range from -18 to -23 degrees.
How to freeze dogwood at home
You can freeze the berry directly with the seeds. However, you need to do it right in order to preserve the maximum vitamins and other nutrients. Freezing should be quick, so it is best to place the dogwood in the chamber in small portions.
The prepared berries should be scattered on a pallet in one layer and put into the freezer for 15-20 minutes, setting the temperature to -12 degrees. Then you need to get it out and pack it, but you need to do this quickly to prevent thawing.For storage, containers are suitable, as well as packages - ordinary cellophane or special for freezing. After filling the container with berries, you need to release all the air from it and close it tightly.
You do not have to pack the dogwood, but freeze and store directly on the pallet. However, less berries will fit in this way, and the shelf life will be reduced by 2 times.
Another way to freeze dogwood is to use sugar. Simple recipe:
- The previously washed and dried berries must be wiped through a fine mesh sieve - all the bones and skin will remain in it.
- Add sugar to the resulting mass to taste and mix thoroughly.
- Transfer the mixture to a container or ice-freezer cells, or roll into balls wrapped in cling film.
The berry, grated together with sugar, must be frozen at a temperature of at least -12 degrees for 1.5-2 hours. Then it must be taken out of the mold, put into bags and sent for long-term storage.
Storage rules
During storage, the following rules must be observed:
- On each package it is worth writing the date of the product preparation. This will help maintain the shelf life.
- Frozen dogwood should not be placed next to meat, fish and other strong-smelling food, otherwise it will absorb odors.
- In bags, the berry can be kept in the freezer for 9-12 months at a temperature of -18 degrees. Bulk dogwood, scattered on a pallet, is stored for no more than six months.
- Cornel, ground with sugar, must also be kept at -18 degrees. However, its shelf life is shorter - only 4 months.
How to defrost dogwood
You need to defrost the berry gradually, avoiding a sharp temperature drop. First, it should be moved to the lower compartment of the refrigerator. There, it will thaw out in a few hours, after which it must be used as soon as possible, since re-freezing is not allowed. Compotes and cereals can be prepared from frozen dogwood, adding it during cooking.
If you regularly eat dogwood, appetite will improve, heartburn will go away, vascular walls will strengthen and blood pressure will normalize. So that this healthy berry is always at hand, you can freeze it - and you can cook vitamin compotes and other dishes all year round.
